How to Improve Self-Awareness

The Ultimate Guide to Understanding, Developing, and Benefiting from Self-Awareness

Growing up as a teenager, a young adult, and an adult-adult you’ve come across the statements
“You need to be self-aware”, and “Know your true self”. What meaning did these statements have in your life? Well maybe, you acted upon the words or nothing changed in your life because you did not know what it meant to be self-aware or showing up in your true self.

Self-awareness is a journey, not a destination. As you are growing, a lot of things change, from your hobbies, goals, relationships, interests you name them. Once you realize this, you will appreciate the process of learning about yourself, understanding your emotions, and testing out different things that you enjoy doing. 

You no longer want to spend time on things, or relationships that do not satisfy or make you happy. 

What does it mean to be Self-Aware? 

Self-awareness is having an understanding of three main aspects of your life, that is the cognitive, physical, and emotional. The cognitive aspect of self-awareness refers to how you think, learn, or even understand things. Your ability to assess your physical state, your health, your body movement patterns, and moods, what makes you happy or sad. 

Self-awareness is understanding your emotions, thoughts, actions, and how they distinguish you from others. 

Why self-awareness is important in your personal and professional growth.

When you are self-aware, you become better in decision-making due to enhanced clarity thus becoming a better person. Your communication skills and collaboration are enhanced. You now can say NO to things that do not serve you as an individual. This way, you dictate a positive working environment. 

On your journey to becoming the better version of yourself, you will need to understand what self-awareness means, what perspectives surround it, why it is important to be self-aware, the types of self-awareness, how can you develop self-awareness, if you are self-aware, and how can you improve it. Looking for all these answers? You’ve got them well structured for you on this post.

How does Self-Awareness relate to Emotional Intelligence and self-reflection 

Self-Awareness vs Emotional Intelligence

Self-awareness is the key component of emotional intelligence. While self-awareness is your ability to identify and understand your feelings, emotions, and thoughts, Emotional intelligence on the other hand is your ability to manage your own emotions and be aware of those of others  thus influencing your actions.